Overview

Here are the high-level steps for creating a new character in Ettes Eternal:

1. Select a Character Class and pick your Starting Equipment
   • If you are a spellcaster, pick your Starting Spells
2. Set your Initial Skill Levels and set up Class Skills
3. Select an Ancestry
4. Come up with a basic backstory concept, and select a Background
5. Pick your Level 1 Perk
6. Calculate your starting Health
7. Pick out your starter Weapon & Armor
   • Make sure to make a note of all of your Flow Actions:
     • Global Actions
     • Weapon Actions
8. Buy any additional Gear with your starting gold
9. Flesh out your character’s backstory, physical description, and personality

Initial Skill Levels

All Skills begin the game at 30. To begin with, you pick 8 Skills that you want to define as “Class Skills”. If you would prefer help, there is an alternate rule called Class Skill Bundles to help you decide what to pick for your class. You then roll 4d8+10 eight times (once for each Class Skill) and then add those results to the initial value of 30 for each Class Skill. You can assign any roll to any Skill.

Once you have your 8 Class Skills rolled and assigned, you then can move onto…

Ancestries

Each Ancestry will grant you a single +10 bonus to a Skill, and a single Ancestral Trait you pick from a list.

Core Ancestries

Human

• Ancestral Skill: Any one non-combat skill +10
• Ancestral Traits (pick one):
  • Stubborn (Once per day, if you fail a Skill Check by 10 or less, you can turn it into a Normal Success but take a -5 to that Skill for the remainder of the day.)
  • Cultural Chameleon (after 1 day spent in a new culture you can adapt mannerisms and be treated as one of them by all but the most discerning citizens)

Elf

• Ancestral Skill: Academia +10
• Ancestral Trait (pick one):
  • Magic Resistance (Resist 5 against one type of non-physical damage)
  • Enhanced Meditation (You require half as much time to achieve Long Rest, and can attempt Perception Checks for anything except sight during this time)

Dwarf

• Ancestral Skill: Endurance +10
• Ancestral Trait (pick one):
  • Resilience (+1 DR permanently; stacks with armor)
  • Darkvision (see in anything except complete darkness as if it was daytime)

Half-Orc

• Ancestral Skill: Athletics +10
• Ancestral Trait (pick one):
  • Enhanced Strength (+2 damage with all weapon categories except Crossbow)
  • Iron Stomach (immunity to poisons and gain nutrition from unusual sources)

Halfling

• Ancestral Skill: Influence +10
• Ancestral Trait (pick one):
  • Lucky (reroll one failed roll per day)
  • Nimble (large/huge creatures’ threatened area is reduced by 1 hex for you; allow movement through large/huge creatures’ squares)

Gnome

• Ancestral Skill: Academia +10
• Ancestral Trait (pick one):
  • Tinker (you can create a minor gadget once per day that lasts for the day; it replicates a single Novice spell of your choice using your highest Spellcaster Class Tier, or Apprentice-level)
  • Fade (Perception checks to detect you have Disadvantage when you are standing still for more than 5 seconds and not out in the open alone)

Special Ancestries

Nephilim

• Ancestral Skill: Religion +10
• Pick Aspect for Trait
  • Fiendish Aspect (Corruption resistance)
  • Angelic Aspect (Healing focus)

Djinni

• Ancestral Skill: Willpower +10
• Pick Aspect for Trait
  • Fire (immunity to normal fire, resistance to magical fire)
  • Water (can breathe underwater, swim speed equals land speed)
  • Earth (can sense vibrations through ground, detect movement)
  • Air (can hover briefly, never take fall damage)
  • Space (short-range teleportation once per day)
  • Time (glimpse 3 seconds into future once per day for advantage)
  • Shadow (become incorporeal for brief moments to pass through objects)

Beastfolk

• Ancestral Skill: Survival +10
• Pick Aspect for Trait:
  • Wolf (pack tactics bonus)
  • Bear (natural armor - 1 DR)
  • Cat (land on feet - immunity to fall damage up to certain height)
  • Snake (natural poison - bite attacks inflict poison)
  • Raven (mimicry - perfectly replicate voices and sounds)
  • Octopus (2 arm-length tentacles that cannot hold weapons, placed wherever on body)
  • Chameleon (minor face-shifting - can alter facial features for disguise)

Classes

Select a single Class to start the game as, and you gain benefits to skills based on the class

Hit Dice

Hit Dice for your character vary by class (d6/d8/d10/d12)

Equipment

Proficiency Packages: Standardized gear sets per class Player Choice: Select subset of package items for free Starting Gold: Small amount for additional mundane gear Magic Items: None, or possibly one simple item maximum

Backgrounds

Backgrounds are a way to define what it is that your character did before they became an adventurer. You can use these to mesh with an existing backstory you have, or if you’re stumped you can use them to help spark your imagination on what your character did in the past! The Mixed Backgrounds rule can be a great way to come up with interesting characters.

Backgrounds each offer you 2 things:

1. Skill Selection: Each background provides 3 skill options; You choose 1 skill to receive a +10 bonus to permanently.
2. Roleplaying Bonuses: These are purely narrative benefits that provide story hooks, social connections, and practical advantages without direct mechanical skill bonuses. These should not be only one-use, but rather long-lasting benefits to use to keep things interesting and give you plenty of options outside of combat as well!

Optional Rule: Mixed Background

This is a way to add some really interesting customization to your character and get some inspiration for character backgrounds by doing a tradeoff of Roleplaying Bonuses.

First, you choose a “Primary Background”; this is the one you get your Skill and Roleplaying Bonus from as normal. However, if you choose one of your Roleplaying Bonuses from your Primary Background to remove (come up with a reason if you can; why did your Healer abandon his Healers Oath?!), you may instead choose ONE Roleplaying Bonus from ANOTHER Background to replace the removed bonus. (e.g. a Soldier who loses his veteran’s pension because he attempted to defraud the military, but gains the Healer’s Oath because he was a Combat Medic)

By making unique combinations like this, explaining why you lose one bonus and gain another can be fantastic ways to spark your imagination for interesting and non-standard character backstories.

Bring Your Own Background

You are welcome to design backgrounds not on this list, collaborating with your GM for final approval.

First, try to think of some good applicable Skill Options that are thematic to the Background. We recommend that no background gives a Spellcasting Skill option.

You also should come up with 2-3 very interesting and thematic Roleplaying Bonuses. These bonuses are not simply trivial “flavor” for your character! Look at the examples below; these will have long-lasting benefits for your party (like Bounty Hunter’s “confidential informants” bonus) throughout the entire campaign, potentially. Get creative. None of these should be direct mechanical bonuses like “+10 to {Skill}” or “More damage on melee attacks”. Those are boring, and not the point of Backgrounds; you’ll get plenty of stuff like that from Perks and more!

Background List

Professional Backgrounds

Soldier

• Skill Options: Melee, Ranged, Athletics
• Roleplaying Bonus: Military rank & veteran’s pension, access to military facilities

Merchant

• Skill Options: Influence, Deception, Insight
• Roleplaying Bonus: Trade contacts in multiple cities, letter of credit for business deals

Scholar

• Skill Options: Any Knowledge skill
• Roleplaying Bonus: Library access privileges, academic reputation and peer network

Artisan

• Skill Options: Crafting, Endurance, Perception
• Roleplaying Bonus: Guild membership, masterwork tools, and established clientele

Healer

• Skill Options: Medicine, Nature, Insight
• Roleplaying Bonus: Oath of healing (trusted by all cultures), medical supplies access

Social Backgrounds

Noble

• Skill Options: Influence, Insight, Academia
• Roleplaying Bonus: Title & estate, social connections

Criminal

• Skill Options: Thievery, Deception, Melee
• Roleplaying Bonus: Underworld contacts, safe houses, criminal code recognition

Folk Hero

• Skill Options: Athletics, Endurance, Influence
• Roleplaying Bonus: Local fame & hospitality, inspiring presence to common folk

Hermit

• Skill Options: Survival, Nature, Willpower
• Roleplaying Bonus: Hidden sanctuary location, ancient secret knowledge, animal familiar

Acolyte

• Skill Options: Religion, Medicine, Influence
• Roleplaying Bonus: Temple sanctuary rights, religious hierarchy connections

Specialized Backgrounds

Investigator

• Skill Options: Perception, Insight, Academia
• Roleplaying Bonus: Legal authority to question witnesses, access to case files

Spy

• Skill Options: Deception, Medicine, Insight
• Roleplaying Bonus: False identity papers, handler contact

Sailor

• Skill Options: Athletics, Survival, Endurance
• Roleplaying Bonus: Ship passage arrangements, port contacts worldwide

Courier

• Skill Options: Agility, Endurance, Survival
• Roleplaying Bonus: Fast travel network, emergency supply caches

Bounty Hunter

• Skill Options: Ranged, Survival, Melee
• Roleplaying Bonus: Bounty contacts & confidential informants, legal capture authority